Never A Chance On Clyde Project

Published: January 12, 2000 12:00AM

The Gerstenslager Co.'s decision to pursue new construction in Clyde, Ohio, was revisited during a question and answer period among panel and audience members during an abatment information session Monday evening in the conference room of the municipal building.

The forum was set up by City Councilwoman Barbara Hustwit, D-Ward 2, to include county, city, and school board officials.

Wayne County Commissioner Cheryl Noah tried to clear up a misconception about the plant's expansion, which she said included two different projects.

One, she said, was for upgrading euipment at the Wooster plant, a project that was granted a Wayne County abatement. The other was a new construction project, which the company decided to locate in Clyde.

"That was not presented to us for abatement," Noah said.

"We can't lose something we didn't know we were in competition for," said county Commissioner Mark Sheppard.

Margo Broehl, chairwoman for the Wooster Growth Corp., confirmed that Gerstenslager had not approached the city on the proposal, either.

County Commissioner Fred Cannon confirmed, "The second Gerstenslager request was never brought to this community."

President of the Wayne Development Council, Frank Beeson, gave his perspective concerning the county's lacking knowledge of the second proposal. He said that Gerstenslager "put together a matrix that included other communities."

The formula the company used, he said, determined "how far each community would go" in providing incentives. "The checkmarks on (Wayne's part of) the matrix didn't come close to Clyde," he said. "When the matrix was completed, we were not in the same ballpark as Clyde."

Beeson said companies sense an "attitude," and the attitude Wayne County conveys is "don't ask for anything more. Other communities don't do that," he said.

Gerstenslager CEO Ken Vagnini commented on the company's second proposal in a phone interview Tuesday. Vagnini confirmed that there were indeed two separate Gerstenslager projects. "The Clyde project we never brought to the local people," he said.

"Clyde was very competitive. The local area would not have come close."

Vagnini said he knew that locally the company would have faced "a battle for zoning and abatements."

He said that the landlocked campus in Wooster also factored into the decision.

"When we opened our eyes outward, it made sense to expand outside the area."

Referring to abatement as a tool to attract development, Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce president Dwight Mathias said, "It's a game, and you might not like the rules, but we've got to be the best salesmen we can be. Somebody out there outsold us (with Gerstenslager)."

"We play (the game) pretty well," he said, "but we can probably do better."

What Vagnini called the "economic bottom line," however, was the major factor for his company to look elsewhere. "The business case supported the decision," he said, adding that "you couldn't turn your back" on the advantages offered by Clyde.